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00:02 Good morning. I'll try the salamat pagi. There you go. It's good to be here. You
00:10 know, in uh 2005, the commencement speaker at the Stamford
00:15 University graduation service got up, took the podium, and talked about how to
00:21 live before you die. He said, and I quote, "You've got to find what you
00:27 love. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life. And the only way to
00:33 be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way
00:41 to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep
00:48 looking and do not settle. As with all matters of the heart, you will know when
00:53 you find it. And like any great relationship, it gets better and better
00:59 and better over time. So keep looking and do not settle. That speaker's name
01:07 was Steve Jobs.
01:12 He is the co-founder and CEO of Apple and he passed away on October 11th,
01:19 2011. He throughout his lifetime has been called a tech titan. He's been called a
01:25 visionary. He's been called a pioneer. What? What not? And uh if you own an iPod, an iPhone, right, or a Mac or an
01:33 iPad or an eyewatch or anything I really uh you've probably heard his name before. And so
01:40 just in the same speech about doing what you love to do in life, Steve Jobs
01:46 shared a question that he asked of himself to make sure that he was living his life to the fullest. He asked this
01:53 question. If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am
02:01 about to do today? How would you answer that question?
02:08 Are you satisfied with your activities today? Do you have a great work to do today?
02:16 Would you change anything in your schedule if this happened to be the last day of your life? Pause for a second.
02:22 Don't answer that question yet. Listen to what Jesus says about a truly fruitful life. And so as uh was read for
02:29 us earlier in John chapter 15 verse 5 1 to5 if you're there, we find the key to
02:35 effective Christian living and what it means to live a truly fruit producing
02:41 life. And really it's not how much of the Bible you know. It's not how long you pray. And even it's not what church
02:49 you attend. It's none of those things, right? The key to being greatly used by God this morning or throughout your life
02:56 is this principle that we will unpack later on in the sermon. And it's called abiding in Christ. In fact, the Apostle
03:04 John who wrote this gospel speaks of abiding in Christ a lot if you fast
03:10 forward to the end of your Bibles in the letter of First John. In fact, the letter of First John is written entirely
03:16 on the importance of abiding in Christ. And so we come to John 15. Jesus knew
03:22 that his time was short. And so he gathered his disciples together, right?
03:28 And so and gave them his final teaching. It was sort of like the disciples graduation service, right, from the
03:35 Jesus Christ seminary. I totally made that up. There is no such thing as a Jesus Christ seminary, but you get what
03:41 I'm saying, right? And so he kind of he he was the keynote speaker of that
03:47 address. And so he summarized everything he had taught them in his ministry with them. He told them what they must not
03:54 forget. He told them what they must remember and he reminded he reminded them of the
04:01 most essential truths that uh that they would remember and he warned them of the
04:07 trials that would be coming but to stay strong in the words that he had spoken to them. And as he so often does, Jesus
04:16 uses a common everyday picture to portray the lesson that he is about to
04:23 teach them. Sorry. And so in John chapter 15, we have this
04:28 image. He gives us the picture of a vine of the
04:34 gardener or the vine dresser and he gives us the picture of the branches and then the fruit that grows on the
04:41 branches. And so as we're reading John 15 today or we're kind of studying or
04:46 unpacking John 15, it's important to know what the last verse of the previous chapter speaks about. So turn with me to
04:53 John 14:31. What does it say?
04:59 But I do as the father has commanded me so that the world may know that I love the father. Rise. Let us go from here.
05:07 So Jesus and his disciples are just about to leave the upper room where they have just shared the Passover meal. And
05:14 so they're go they're going to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus will pray his great high priestly prayer
05:20 before he is shortly arrested by the mob led by who? Judas. Thank you. And so
05:27 imagine with me for a moment. You want to close your eyes? You can if you're if you keep it open that's fine, right?
05:32 Imagine with me for a moment Jesus walking through the darkened streets of
05:37 the city and he's walking with his disciples and he passes the walls onto the surrounding countryside. And now
05:43 just a bit of a historical lesson but you know we all love history right if you're in school right and so we must know that this happened around the month
05:50 of April and why is this important is because around the month of April the grape wines would be beginning to
05:56 blossom with the promise of a fresh harvest. So perhaps as Jesus was walking with his disciples, he probably grabbed
06:03 a vine in his hand and he used it to teach the disciples an object lesson
06:09 which were which we are studying today. And so we can ask well why did Jesus teach them
06:17 this now right now in this moment? Why was he teaching them this lesson? It's simple. They needed it.
06:24 They needed this lesson. Right? If you look at John 14:12, you don't have to turn there. I'll read it for you. Right.
06:29 These men have just been informed that Jesus will be going away, but that he
06:35 his work is going to continue. How? Through them and through their lives. That's why in verse 12 of John 14, what
06:42 does he say? Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do. And greater works than
06:48 these um will he do because I am going to the
06:53 father. You know my friends, today we are roughly 2,000 years rem removed from
06:59 that night. But the work of the Lord still continues. Amen. Still does. And
07:04 how is it continuing? Right? Through his followers, through his disciples. That's how his purposes are being carried out
07:11 in our communities today. Right here in Sububang. Through his people, through his
07:17 followers. So, some of us may be sitting here this morning thinking, how in the
07:22 world am I accomplishing God's purposes? Or how in the world am I producing this
07:29 type of fruit that Jesus is speaking about? Well, thanks for being here because hopefully you will find the
07:34 answers right here in these verses. So, today I want if you're taking notes, great. If you're not, that's okay, right? So, today I want to share with
07:40 you three simple three simple takeaways from this passage. Number one, Jesus is
07:45 the true vine. Secondly, the father makes us productive by this little word, painful word called pruning, right? And
07:53 thirdly, we will look at we bear fruit by abiding in Christ. Three simple points, right? Easy to understand. So
07:60 let's consider the first one. Jesus is the true vine. Look at me. Look with me at verse one. John 15. I am the true
08:06 vine and my father is the wine dresser. The vine dresser. Now Jesus explains
08:12 this image right from the start, right? He is the vine. God is the vine dresser.
08:18 Now why does Jesus say this? Because he is distinguishing himself from the nation of Israel. Why? Because in the
08:25 Old Testament in uh the books like Isaiah, Jeremiah and even uh Ezekiel,
08:32 the image of a vine is used over and over and over again to represent the
08:37 nation of Israel, God's chosen people. Right? That's what it that's what this word wine vine means in the Old
08:45 Testament. And what's really interesting is that every time this image of a vine is used in the Old Testament concerning
08:51 the nation of Israel, it's negative. It's negative. Not good. Right? Not
08:57 good. Right? And why is it negative? Right? It's because God planted Israel
09:02 as a vine to bear fruit, but they failed. And they failed miserably. Why
09:08 did they fail miserably? They were impatient. I'm impatient. They were disobedient. I tend to be disobedient,
09:13 right? Just ask my wife, right? I don't always do what she wants me to do, right? And they also ran after false
09:19 gods. You know, historically, Israel was a very forgetful nation when
09:25 it comes to the provision of God. Speaking of being forgetful, a husband
09:30 was in big trouble for forgetting his wife's birthday. Husbands, if you're here, you know what I'm talking about,
09:36 right? Do not forget your wife's birthday. Not a good thing. So he was in
09:42 trouble for forgetting his wife's birthday. And so his wife told him, "Tomorrow
09:47 there better be something in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 2
09:54 seconds flat." And so the husband like with this expression, I'm sure you know, okay
10:00 honey, I'll I'll do that. So the next morning, the wife gets up, runs to the driveway, and she finds a very small
10:07 package in the driveway. And she opens it, and to her surprise, she finds a brand new weighing scale.
10:22 Not that this really matters, but the husband's funeral has been set for next Saturday.
10:28 My friends, Israel failed to be the vine that produced good fruit and God brought
10:34 judgment with them. Keep your finger John 15. Turn all the way to the Old Testament to Isaiah chapter 5 where we
10:39 see this in the Old Testament. Look at Isaiah chapter 5. We'll read verses 1 and two.
10:51 You can go ahead and raise your hand so I know you're there so that I don't go too fast. If you're there, great. All right, good. Isaiah 5 verse one. Let me
10:58 sing for my beloved my love's song concerning his vineyard. My my beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
11:06 He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines and he built a watchtower in the midst of it
11:13 and hewed out a wine vat in it. And he looked for it to yield grapes, but it
11:19 yielded wild grapes. Israel was not the vine that God
11:25 intended them to be. Why? So why then is Jesus claiming to be the true vine? It's
11:31 because Jesus is saying wherever Israel failed, I will overcome. Amen. What a
11:37 great truth. Jesus is the true vine. That means that wherever Israel wavered,
11:42 right, Jesus will hold fast. Where in all the places where Israel sinned, Jesus will overcome. In all the places
11:49 where Israel forsook God over and over again, Jesus will trust God the father
11:55 all the way to the end to the cross. What a glorious truth. And that's the
12:03 first part of verse one. The second part is we see the God uh we see God the father portrayed to us as a vine
12:09 dresser. Right? He is the vine dresser.
12:14 So if you look there, a vine dresser is more than just a farmer. Okay, it's more than just a farmer. You see, the vine
12:20 dresser, he knows all about grapes. He knows how they grow, what they need, and when they need it, right? And so, a a
12:27 vine dresser's grapes will remain with him for decades because why? Because
12:32 he's intimately connected with his vines. He knows every aspect of the vine. That's what a vine dresser does,
12:40 right? And so, in this picture, of course, we know that there is only one vine that the vine dresser has to tend.
12:47 It's Jesus, right? And this particular vine has different branches coming off
12:53 of him. So God the father, the vine dresser only has one vine to tend.
12:58 However, the main part of tending this vine is to look after the branches, you
13:04 and I. That's the main part of God the father, the vine dresser, tending this
13:09 vine is to look after the branches. It is the branches that Jesus talks about
13:14 in John chapter 15 verse two. Right? It's talking about the branches. And before I get uh into the second point,
13:21 the best word to describe the relationship between the branches and the w and the vine is this little word
13:27 that we know very well. It's called dependence. It's the best word to describe this
13:33 relationship between the branch and the vine. It's dependence. I as the branch am dependent on Jesus as the vine to
13:41 have his life to have his sustenance flow through him to me as his branch.
13:48 And so the branch is just an extension of the vine. Right? And today very sadly
13:54 some people reverse that picture. Does that make sense? We put ourselves in the
14:00 vine and Jesus is just an attachment. Jesus is just a branch. So we have our
14:06 plans. We have our goals. We have our jobs. We have our families. We have our problems, right? They're all branches in
14:12 our lives. And so Jesus is just another branch,
14:17 right? And often times in the busyiness of life, I'm sure right here in Sububanga also, right? We don't
14:24 intentionally but subconsciously we tend to make ourselves the god of our own
14:29 lives by making ourselves the vine. Does that make sense? Right? It's okay to
14:35 talk back. It's fine. Cuz then I just think, "Yeah, all right. Good." Right? And we we subconsciously, not
14:42 intentionally, make ourselves the God of our own lives. Speaking of making God the making ourselves the God of our own
14:48 lives. You know, a pretty famous football player, I don't know what you I don't I'm not sure if you've heard of him. His name is Cristiano Ronaldo. I'm
14:55 sure many of you know him. Yeah. Right. Cristiano Ronaldo at a recent press conference uh very arrogantly told a
15:02 reporter, "You know something? I believe that God has sent me to this world to
15:08 teach everyone to play football." All right. Okay. You are Cristiano. Two
15:15 weeks before the FIFA World Cup in Russia, at the Argentinian press conference, that same reporter mentioned
15:22 this to another football player. I don't know if you know him. His name is Leo Messi, right? And this reporter told him, "Hey,
15:28 you know, Cristiano Ronaldo said this, you know that, you know, God sent him here to this world to teach everyone to
15:33 play football." Lionel Messi very wittingly replied, "I don't remember sending him."
15:45 But wait, there's more to these branches. Consider the second point here. The father makes us productive by
15:53 pruning. Right? Look at verse two in John 15. Every branch in me that does not bear
15:60 fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it bear more fruit. So there is a vine,
16:07 there is a vine dresser. And there are two kinds of branches. There are two kinds of branches. Branches that bear
16:14 fruit, right, that will be pruned to bear more fruit. and then branches that do not bear fruit which will be dried,
16:21 burnt, cut off. It's pretty simple. And as you may know, as we've been going through this series in the Gospel of
16:27 John, Jesus has a great way of making profound statements in the most simplest
16:33 ways. That's what he does here. That's what's happening here, right? And so let's
16:38 consider uh the first point is the first type of branch. And before I begin,
16:43 right, we need to ask this question. Who are the branches? That's the question.
16:49 Who are the branches? So, let's consider the first type of branch, right? The branches, they're all attached. These
16:55 two branches, they're all attached to the vine, right? So, the first type, the
17:00 ones that don't bear fruit are cut off, dried, and burned. So, who are they? Well, let me remind you of the context,
17:06 right? To understand what's being said here, we need to know what Jesus is trying to imply. So, turn with me to John 13. Right? It's important to
17:13 understand the entire book to get the principle here. Right? This all begins
17:18 back in chapter 13 right there in the upper room. And I don't know uh I'm sure um you have gone through John 13 in the
17:25 series, you will be very quick to know that there are two types of disciples in that upper room. Yeah, there are two
17:31 types of disciples in that upper room. And it's uh and if you look at verse
17:36 one, Jesus is there right there in verse one, very aware that his hour of death is coming. So it says Jesus knew that
17:43 his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father having loved his own
17:48 who were in the world. He loved them to the end. Now there was somebody else in
17:55 the upper room. Look at verse two. One of the disciples attached to Jesus. What was his name? Judas, right? Judas's
18:03 Scariot, son of Simon. It says here in verse two, during supper when the devil had already put it into the heart of
18:10 Judas Escariat, Simon's son to betray him. I really don't think that there's a
18:15 lot of mystery as to these two branches or these two types of branches. You know, my friends, Jesus had been very
18:22 had long been aware that Judas would have betrayed him, right? That there was
18:27 a difference between 11 of them and Judas. He was aware. He was aware of the
18:32 difference. And after washing the disciples feet, that's where we know what this means. So look at verse 10 and
18:39 11, John 13, right? So after washing the disciples feet, what did he say? And Jesus said to them, "The one who has
18:46 bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And
18:53 you are clean, but not every one of you." For the for he knew who was to
18:58 betray him. That was why he said not all of you are clean. You see my friends,
19:07 once a person is forgiven, he's clean, right? Once a person is forgiven by God, he is clean and does not need the
19:13 bathing of forgiveness again, right? He doesn't need it. All that is necessary is for
19:20 what? Is for him to is to clean his feet. Is to wash his
19:26 feet. What does that signify? It means to confess and repent of your daily
19:31 sins. You don't need to be saved again. You just need to consistently and
19:36 continually repent and confess of your sin. Does that make sense? That's what it's
19:41 speaking of. That's what repentance. In the Greek, it's called metaninoia, which simply means to turn from your sin to
19:48 Jesus. So, how many of you guys like math? Maths. Mathematics. Right. No wor
19:54 young people don't even tell me Shahan if I hate maths. Right? So if you look at repentance mathematically, right, it
19:60 means to literally turn 180 degrees. So if this is your sin, 180 degrees,
20:06 that'll be right behind you is Jesus. So you literally
20:11 turn from your sin and look to Jesus in faith, confessing your sin, trusting
20:18 him, right? Repentance also means to change your attitude towards your sin. You sin,
20:24 sin, sins, sin, sin. You repent and you realize that's not honoring God. So you change your attitude towards sin. That's
20:31 what repentance speaks about. And so if you look there in verse 11, right, his
20:38 point was that a child of God who commits a sin does not need to be saved again. He only needs to continually
20:44 confess of his daily sins and to be restored in his relationship with his
20:50 father in heaven. Right? But Judas had not even been bathed. Why? Because he
20:56 was not a true child of God. He wasn't. Right? And that is why if you look at the end of verse 11, Jesus makes it very
21:03 plain there. Not all of you are clean.
21:08 That's why he says that friends, Jesus, sorry, Judas appeared to be just like
21:15 the other disciples, right? He was with Jesus for the same amount of time. In
21:20 fact, Judas was given the responsibility of handling the money. Now, I'm not
21:26 really sure about this, but generally in most corporate entities and in most companies, you generally give the
21:33 finances to the people you trust a little bit more. That's probably the case in the church as well. So, it's
21:40 pretty obvious that Judas was not really kind of outcast. He was given a very
21:46 prominent role in the disciplehip group. That's where Judas was. And interestingly,
21:52 right, it appeared that he was just a branch in the vine just like everyone else. But he never bore what?
22:01 Real fruit. And so God, as we know in John 15, he
22:07 finally removes this particular branch from the vine and it is burnt. And
22:12 interestingly, there was nothing obvious in the life and behavior and character of Judas that would make us kind of
22:20 classify him as a false disciple. Look through the gospels. There's nothing extraordinary about him, but he was not
22:27 really one of Jesus's disciples. He was visibly attached.
22:33 He looked like he was attached. And for all intents and purposes, he looked like everybody looked like
22:39 everybody else and also did what everyone else did. My friends, today there are people just like Judas
22:47 in many churches. People that appear by human perception
22:52 to be united with Christ. We do the Christian things. We take part
22:57 in religious activities. We become church members. We take communion. We do all these things. We practice church
23:03 membership all over the world, but people are superficially
23:09 attached to the vine. Not really, just superficially.
23:14 So, for today, just to be a little bit creative, let's call those branches the Judas branches. Okay? So, we'll go ahead
23:20 and call them the Judas branches this morning. The second type of branch,
23:26 what does Jesus do with them? The second type of branch, look at the second part of verse two, John 15. And every branch
23:33 that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. So God the father
23:39 does some really hard work here, right? What does he do? He completely whacks off the entire branch that is not
23:45 bearing fruit. So he whacks it off and then he comes back to the branch, right? That is bearing fruit. And what does he
23:51 do? He prunes it, right? He prunes it. Pruning comes from the Greek word uh
23:57 catha which simply means to make clean, right? It could mean to clean out the
24:02 weeds in the soil before you plant a seed, right? It could also mean anything
24:07 that cleanses a plant, any plant so that it can bear more fruit, right? And so
24:14 God goes to work with a pruning knife. So God goes to work with a pruning
24:20 knife. And so the father comes along, if you're if God is working on your life, he comes along in your life and he
24:26 begins to do his pruning work. He begins to do his cutting work in your life. And
24:31 my friends, I'm not sure if you're aware of this. If you ever been cut by a knife, it hurts.
24:38 Nothing theological about that principle, right? It hurts. When you get cut, it hurts. And so what does the
24:46 father does? What does the father do? Sorry. Right? He cuts away sin, right? He cuts away useless, wasteful behavior.
24:53 He cuts away preoccupied things in our minds. When we think of things that
24:58 don't really matter, but we just waste our time thinking of these things, preoccupied thoughts, he cuts those away. And how does he do that? Oh, this
25:05 is interesting. He does it in many ways. He does it through sickness.
25:11 He will do it through the loss of a job. He will do it through hardships. He will do it through the loss of a friend, the
25:18 loss of a family member. He may do it through um uh the loss of material gain.
25:24 What we have worked our entire lives to gain. All right? to achieve, he may cut that away. That is his pruning word.
25:30 That is how he does it, right? And so he might even do it through failure, right? Something you've spent years trying to
25:36 figure out and work out and be like, "Wow, this is magnificent." And then he cuts it.
25:42 That's God's providential pruning knife, right? And so he might even do it
25:47 through persecution through people that you don't really like. And we can all we're okay with that, right? Like I
25:52 don't like you, you don't like me. Great. Let's go home, right? But he may also do it through people that you love.
25:57 He might even do it through family members. That's how he may do his pruning work in your life. And so it may
26:05 also happen through the loss of your reputation, right? Even at your company, in your home, even at church, whatever
26:11 it is, that is God using the pruning knife, right? And so he uh and so if you
26:18 look at James 1:es 2-4, you don't have to turn there, but I'll read it for you. James chapter 1 verse 2-4. You can turn
26:25 there if you want. If you're quick with your thumbs, it's good, right? All the way at the back of the Bible.
26:31 James 1 verse 2-4. Count it all joy. What
26:40 do you laugh when you get cut? I don't. Maybe you're stronger than I am, right?
26:45 But look, read on. My brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith
26:53 produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that
26:58 you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. My friends, that is the
27:04 pruning knife. That is the pruning knife. And so, my friends, there are a couple of different responses that we
27:10 can have to this pruning, right? Tell me if you relate to any of these responses.
27:16 We could drown ourselves in self-pity. We could drown ourselves in disappointment, right? Complaining full
27:23 of an anxiety when things don't go the way we think it ought to go in our lives, right? How many of you can
27:28 relate, right? Yeah. Three people. Great. I feel you, man. I understand what
27:34 you're going through. Right? Or you can look heavenward and say, "Thank you, God. Thank you for using the pruning
27:41 knife so that I can bear more fruit for your glory." Amen.
27:46 That's what the pruning knife does for you. That's what it does, right? And so
27:51 we could also reply with this thing. We could also reply with this response. Why me, God? How many of you guys have said
27:57 that? Oh, everyone here, right? Great. Why me, God? Why is this happening to me? You know, two days ago, I had a
28:03 certain soup at a restaurant that I won't mention because maybe the manager will be here. I don't know, right? And
28:11 it happened to be beef spicy noodle soup. And in that moment I loved it. The
28:17 next morning I hated it. That could be God's pruning work in my
28:22 life to say Shahan don't have soup. Have chicken rice. Yeah. All right.
28:28 Yeah. All right. Have chicken soup. Oh, sorry. Chicken rice. Right. That could
28:33 be God's pruning work. It's a terrible example, but you understand what I'm saying.
28:39 Another way to look at this is in Hebrews 12:7. Right? If you're quick,
28:44 you can turn there. Hebrews 12:7. Right? It says, "It is for discipline
28:49 that you have to endure." Right? God is treating you as sons. For
28:56 what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Imagine with me that
29:01 after this service, you go to the Empire Shopping Mall. How many of you got Don't even answer that. Everyone goes to Empire Shopping Mall, right? So, you go
29:08 to Empire Shopping Mall and then you go to the Rakuzan restaurant, Dr. Peter's favorite restaurant, right? And then
29:14 you're sitting there, you get a table, and then you're talking to whoever you're talking to. And then about three tables down, there is a really annoying
29:21 kid that is terribly undisiplined, right? Shouting, screaming, making a huge noise in the restaurant. Are you
29:27 going to get out of your table? Now, how many of you are parents? Oh, all of you. Okay, great. That's a
29:33 terrible question, right? So imagine if you're a parent and you go to Empire Shopping Mall, then you go to Rakuzan restaurant and you're sitting with your
29:39 family and then three tables down there is a terribly indisciplined child who is screaming, shouting, becoming a huge
29:46 disruption to everyone in the restaurant. Are you going to get up, go over and slap the child?
29:54 Yes. Moren says yes. So if you're a parent, please speak to her after the service. Right. But
30:02 of course not. You would not do that. Why? Because you're not compelled to discipline someone who's not your own.
30:10 But Jesus discip God the father disciplines you. Why? Cuz you're his child.
30:16 Does that make sense? That's the difference. He disciplines those whom he loves. So
30:23 if you're a parent, that might make no sense make more sense if you're not a parent.
30:32 One thing that I want to add here. Who has the knife? God the Father.
30:38 God the Father has a knife. What is this knife? Verse three answers this. Go to
30:44 John 15:3. What is this knife? Right.
30:51 John 15:3. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
31:01 A child of God is saved through the word of God. Right? What does Romans chapter 10:1 17 say? What does Paul say? Faith
31:07 comes by hearing the word. Faith comes by hearing.
31:15 Right? And so it is the word of God that does its work in your life. That's what
31:21 John 15:3 says. Right? Now, it's not from what I've said earlier, it's not
31:26 the afflictions that you're going through, per se that is the knife. It's not it is the word of God that cuts into
31:33 your life. Let me explain that for a sec. Let me explain that. We should understand that the word of God is a knife when we read Hebrews chapter 4.
31:39 So, please turn there. It'll be good for you to turn there. Right? So, we understand that the word of God is a knife in Hebrews chapter 4:12.
31:53 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul
31:59 and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and
32:05 intentions of the heart. So here is the idea. God the father is a discipliner,
32:10 right? He is the discipliner, right? And the father is the one who in his providence and in his sovereignty brings
32:16 the trial into your life. Okay? So he brings the trial into your life, right?
32:21 And now what the word of God, right? The word of God now becomes the actual cutting instrument,
32:28 right? That becomes the cutting instrument because when the trial comes into our life and we react in the wrong
32:34 way, who convicts us? The word.
32:40 So when the trial comes and we go through something and we react wrongly to the to the Lord's pruning work, who
32:46 will convict us? It is the word of God. The word of God will convict us. The word of God, my friends, will cut into
32:53 our anger when we're going through something. The word of God will cut into our hostility when we are rubbing
32:59 shoulders with people that we don't really like. Right. Yeah. Right. The word of God is the one that brings about
33:04 conviction. Right. It cuts into our questioning when we say, "Why me God? Why my stomach?" Right. Right? It's the
33:11 word of God that convicts us. Right? So visually, because we love to see things,
33:16 right? So visually, look at it like this. The trials. So everyone can think of a knife. Yeah. Think of a normal
33:23 life. The trials that you are facing, that is the handle of the knife.
33:31 Okay? So the trial is the handle of your knife. The blade of the knife is the
33:37 word of God. Okay. So, how could we put it here
33:42 visually, right? The father brings the trial, right? He brings it because he's
33:48 holding the handle, right? He brings the trial and the word of God cuts into your life. It convicts you and it convicts
33:54 me, right? Listen to how Charles Spurgeon says it, right? It is the word
33:60 that prunes the Christian. It is the truth that purges him. My friends, God
34:05 the Father brings the trial. He holds the handle, right? But the word of God cuts into your life and it starts
34:12 chipping and cutting away at useless behaviors in our lives. You and me,
34:17 right? The scripture is made living and powerful in our lives through the spirit of God.
34:24 Effectively cleansing us of our sin. Brings us to our third and final point
34:30 this morning. We bear fruit by abiding in Christ. I thought I should just split this into two parts. So we'll speak
34:36 about bearing fruit and then finally this morning we'll speak about ab abiding in Christ. Let's look at bearing
34:42 fruit first. Look at John 15:4 and 5.
34:49 John 15:4 and 5. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch
34:55 cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine.
35:02 You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can
35:10 do nothing. My friends, a vine has one distinct purpose. What is it?
35:16 To bear fruit. That's its purpose. But if you will notice, the vine itself does not bear
35:22 the fruit. It delegates the fruit bearing to whom? The branches. It is on
35:28 the branches that the fruit is where we bear the fruit. Right? It grows on the
35:33 branches. And you'll notice in verse two, right? If you look there, there is a progression, right? So there is a
35:39 progression in our bearing fruit, right? If you look at verse two, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes
35:46 away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. And if you scroll down to verse 8
35:52 in the same chapter, John 15, right? If you scroll down to verse 8, by this my
35:58 father is glorified that you bear much fruit. and so prove to be my disciples.
36:04 So we have no fruit, then we have fruit, then we have more fruit and then what do we have? Much more fruit. So there is a
36:13 progression here, right? In our fruit bearing. When I speak of fruit bearing, what do I mean? What will be produced in
36:20 our life when we submit to the vine? What will be produced? You see, my friends, there are three basic fruits
36:26 that the Lord will bear in your life when you're attached to the vine. three basic fruits. The first one,
36:32 sanctification. What does sanctification mean? It means that we become more like Jesus
36:40 Christ. We become more like Jesus Christ. If you look at Colossians 1:10,
36:46 right? We'll be kind of jumping around a bit here, right? Colossians chapter 1 verse 10. so as to walk in a manner
36:53 worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work
36:58 and increasing in the knowledge of God. You know this whole thing about sanctification can be likened to an
37:04 iceberg. How many of you guys have seen an iceberg? Right? Are there icebergs in Malaysia? No. Right? Probably seen it on
37:10 TV, right? We know what happened to the Titanic, right? So, it can be kind of likened to a iceberg. You know why? Cuz
37:17 90% of the iceberg is where? under the water, right? 90% of the
37:24 iceberg is below water. And as the sun shines on the iceberg, what happens? The
37:30 exposed part, it melts. It melts away. Right? And so when it
37:36 melts away, it moves the lower part upward. Thank you. It moves it upward.
37:43 In the same way, we are only aware of a small part of our sin,
37:49 right? We are only aware of a small part of our sin and need at any given time. And as the spirit of the Lord is at work
37:56 in our lives, changing our lives, we become aware of new areas that need the
38:02 pruning work of God. So what happens? You're done with one area like I'm
38:08 perfect. Oh man, I got to work on this. Oh man, I got to work on that. Oh man, I got to work on this. Right? So that's
38:14 sanctification, right? Melts off, another part comes. Melts off, another part comes. And it happens sorry to say
38:21 for the rest of your life. Boo shahan. Right? But that's sanctification. It's a
38:28 lifong process. The second thing is spirituality. Right? That's the second
38:33 type of fruit that God that that that the father will bear in our lives. Right? And that is we behave more like
38:41 him. We behave more like him. Look at Galatians 5 22-23. Right? probably
38:47 memorize this, but I'm bad at memorizing, so I'll read it for you. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy,
38:53 peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. You
39:00 know, a group of terror uh sorry I said that a group of tourists. Sorry. Right. A group. Sorry. Hey, slip of the tongue
39:07 is no fault of the brain. Right. Okay. So, you might have to edit that. Sorry. Right. So, a group of ter uh I keep
39:14 saying that. A group of tourists were visiting a village and they
39:22 happened to walk by an elderly man sitting beside a fence and one of the
39:27 tourists right happened to ask this elderly man were any great men born in this village
39:34 and then the elderly man who is my hero I'm kidding he very wittingly replied no
39:39 sir only babies
39:44 right my Friends, every person when they are born again of the spirit, when they have a regenerating experience, when
39:51 they're converted, right, by the spirit of God, they start life as a
39:57 as a baby. They start life as a baby and then they grow, as Paul says, to maturity in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
40:04 know what a tragedy is? A person who has been saved for 60 years and they're still a
40:11 baby. That's a tragedy, my friends. When we are growing in our walk with the Lord, let us grow from a baby and keep
40:18 growing in our maturity. Amen. That's the goal of spirituality that we become
40:24 more like him. And thirdly is similarity. That's the third thing. What
40:29 is that? We are burdened like him. We will share the same desires as our Lord
40:34 Jesus Christ. Right? You look at Romans chapter 1. Paul says it beautifully in verse 13. I do not want you to be
40:41 unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far
40:47 have been prevented in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as
40:53 become the rest as among the rest of the Gentiles. Right? There was a a blind man
40:59 who went to a missionary doctor to have the cataract operated from his eyes.
41:05 Okay? And then it happened. It was a successful surgery. The man regained his
41:10 sight, runs back to his village, rejoicing and dancing and proclaiming to
41:16 the entire village, I can see. Two weeks later, the same once upon a
41:22 time blind man comes back to the doctor still with his sight, but something was
41:28 different. He was holding a rope and on the other end of the rope there
41:34 were 25 blind people. You know why I said that? Cuz that man
41:41 brought the blind people to where he once regained his sight.
41:47 Are we Christians like that? Are we bringing people to a place where we have
41:53 seen the Lord Jesus Christ? That is the rope. Are you holding the
41:58 rope this morning or you're like, I'm saved. Thank you very much. I'm on my own. No, we need a community. This FBC
42:06 is made up of all of us. Let us all hold the ropes in our workplaces, in our schools, in our universities, even in
42:12 our homes. So I ask you, I challenge you, are you holding a rope today?
42:18 Let us strive to hold that rope through the help of our Lord Jesus Christ.
42:26 You may ask me, does every Christian bear fruit? I will simply say to you, yes. Yes, every Christian will bear
42:33 fruit. That is how you know they're a Christian by their fruit. What is this fruit? If
42:40 you write this down, great. But remember this fruit is righteous attitudes, righteous desires, righteous longings,
42:46 righteous affections, righteous virtues, righteous behaviors, right? That is what
42:51 it means to this fruit to be bearing in your life. It is a manifestation of life. Right? And we will know and you
42:57 know probably as you've gone through the gospel of John chapter 10, Jesus says, "I have come to give you life in
43:04 in abundance. And so where the life of God exists,
43:09 there will also be fruit there. I'll say it again. Where the life of God exists, there will also be fruit there. That is
43:17 why Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2:10, I'll read it for you. But we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for
43:24 good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
43:30 Right? And that is why it says at the end of verse 8 in John chapter 15, right? It says that you bear much fruit
43:37 and so prove to be my disciples. That's why it says in James 2:1 17, faith
43:45 without works is dead. It's a useless claim really. The only
43:51 way you know that faith is real, the only way that you know that salvation is real is by the evidence of it.
44:00 can talk the talk. Not many people can walk the walk, right? That's the only
44:08 way you can tell a person is truly born again. Not by remembering a past you like a event. Not by remembering a
44:15 prayer that we prayed 50 years ago. Not by some wishful thinking or wishful
44:21 hoping. No, my friends, we know that a person is born again
44:26 by their fruit. That's why you know or how you know that someone has been
44:31 transformed by the work of Jesus Christ in their life. So my friends I ask you
44:37 are you bearing fruit for the glory of your creator? Are you growing in your fruit bearing or
44:44 are you like the let us ask you and me all of us let us
44:51 ask this question of ourselves. Secondly and finally what does it mean to abide in Christ?
44:56 Let's look again at verse four and 5. And we are we close with this. John 15:4 and 5. Abide in me and I in you. As the
45:02 branches cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the
45:08 vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that
45:14 bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. What does it mean my friends to abide? What does it mean? It
45:20 comes from the Greek word meno which simply means to remain. Right? Stay put.
45:27 remain, stay, dwell. That's what it means to abide, right? And so the
45:33 challenge is for us to continually, not one time, not two times, but
45:39 continually throughout your life, to be satisfied, immersed in, and empowered by
45:46 who? The Lord Jesus Christ and his work in your life.
45:52 He's one of my favorite authors. How many of you know who that is? There you go. Yeah, Arnold knows what
45:57 I'm talking about, right? So, John Piper, he puts it like this.
46:03 He speaks of abiding as the lifong extension of encountering Jesus. I'll
46:09 say it again. The lifelong extension of encountering Jesus. To abide is not a
46:14 one-time deal. To abide is a lifelong extension of encountering Jesus in every
46:20 aspect of your life. In your home, washing dishes, right? Husbands, if you like to wash dishes, right? You're
46:26 right. Right. Whatever it is you're doing,
46:31 you're abiding in Christ. It's a continual thing. And if you want to understand what this means, I'll try to
46:37 put it to you visually now. Right. Write the word Christ on a piece of paper. Just write the word Christ on a piece of
46:43 paper and then put that paper in an envelope and then write your name on the
46:49 envelope. And then you put that envelope inside another envelope. And then you write
46:56 Christ. And then you put that envelope in another envelope. And then you label it
47:02 God. Talk about a divine sandwich. Really talk about a divine sandwich,
47:09 right? Christ in us, us in Christ, Christ in God, and God in Christ.
47:17 Are you enveloped in him today? Are you enveloped in him? What a
47:22 glorious tooth. Let's talk about Let's look at some verses that speak about this divine sandwich here, shall we?
47:27 Right? In John 15:8, what does it say? As the father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. Right? John
47:35 chapter 8 31 and 32, right? It says, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my
47:41 disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Right? And then if you look at John 15:10, bit
47:47 lower down, it says, "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, right? And then if you look at
47:53 Colossians 1 27, Christ in you the hope of glory." And then if you look at
47:60 Colossians 3:3, it says, "For you have died," speaking of Christ, "and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
48:10 What a challenge it is for us to abide. You know why abiding is a challenge? Because it will demolish our idea of
48:18 self-dependence. I have a huge problem with that. I can do it. I don't need him.
48:24 It will demon it will demolish our idea that we can do everything on our own.
48:30 Yeah. Make sense? Everyone has that challenge this morning, right? So, let
48:36 me ask you this. When you are lying in a hospital bed and you are struggling to do the most basic of things and you have
48:43 to rely on the doctors and the nurses and your family members to help you with the most basic functions. Wouldn't that
48:49 destroy all your ideas of self-sufficiency to even lift a cup? Can you lift the
48:55 cup, please? The father in his pruning will bring us
49:01 to that place if that's what it requires so that we learn to depend on him not
49:06 for in a area in all areas of our lives. That's the business that he is in.
49:14 And it makes our ideas of self-sufficiency truly foolish. My friends, to abide simply means to
49:21 cherish him. To abide means to esteem him above all other.
49:26 That's what it means. Paul says beautifully in Philippians
49:32 chapter 3, right? What does he say? To count everything as
49:38 loss compared to knowing him. That's abiding. Finally, one thing I want to say about abiding. It means to obey his
49:45 commandments. Right? To abide means to obey his commandments. Look at verse 10
49:50 in John 15. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my
49:56 father's commandments and abide in his love. So what does Jesus say here? We can't abide in him if we don't keep his
50:03 commandments. Okay, that's the first thing. And we can't obey his commandments if we don't what? Abide in
50:10 him. So it's pretty much like the chicken and egg question. Yeah, like it.
50:16 Which came first, obedience or abiding? Right? It's like that. Right? What this
50:25 really means is that as we remain connected to Jesus, his life travels through the vine and to the branches and
50:32 it causes us to bear fruit. I want to share with you a quote, one of my favorite books by John Piper. A lot of
50:37 John Piper. I love reading John Piper. If you can get your hands on this book, I I really recommend it. Right? He says
50:44 it like this. Jesus's demands are for a lifetime. Right?
50:49 He does not demand a single decision to repent or come to believe or love or listen. Right? All these continue. The
50:55 transformation of repentance continues. Coming to Jesus again and again continues. Believing in him hour by hour
51:00 continues. Listening to his word as the daily source of spiritual life continues. Jesus demands the engagement
51:06 of our minds and hearts every day of our lives. Does that make sense? I think
51:12 it's pretty clear here what abiding really is.
51:18 You can be really honest with me. How many of you have left a dinner plate overnight?
51:23 That's I I'll clean it in the morning, right? So only I am very in disciplined.
51:29 Arnold, thank you. You're saving me tonight. This morning, right? If you notice here, if you're someone
51:35 that has left a dinner plate overnight,
51:41 doesn't it tend to be very hard to clean in the morning? It tends to be very hard to clean in the
51:47 morning, right? And so an alternative to scrubbing the dish is what? Letting the
51:53 dish soak in hot water and dishwashing liquid. That's the alternative. Or if
51:60 you're like John Rambo, you can go, I got this. You could do that. But you could just
52:08 let it soak in some hot water and some dishwashing liquid. That is what abiding
52:13 does for a Christian. My friends, as we we are much easier to
52:19 clean up when we are remaining, when we are dwelling, when we are staying in the right environments,
52:27 we're easier to clean up. Religion says, "Get the strongest man
52:34 and scrape the dirt off." Right now, a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ says, "Soak."
52:41 Religion says script. Relationship says soak. Soak. Stay in the right
52:47 environment. Dwell. Keep remaining. Three questions I want to ask as I
52:53 close. Number one, are you grafted into the vine today? Are you grafted into the vine today?
52:60 Have you been genuinely born again of the spirit of God? Can you pinpoint a time in your life when that relationship
53:06 came to be in your life? If not, you can be grafted into the vine
53:12 today. How? By coming to Jesus by faith and repenting of your sin. Turning your attitude from your sin. Changing your
53:19 attitude from your sin to Jesus Christ and trusting him. Secondly, is the vine
53:26 dresser performing his pruning work in your life?
53:32 Remember that he does so because he loves you. Why does he love you? You're his children and he does so because he
53:37 loves you. Why not go before him today and thank him for not letting you become a
53:43 discolored leaf, for journeying with you,
53:50 for reaching into your life and to touch you and to draw you to himself. And finally,
53:57 are you abiding in the vine? Are you drawing your strength from him
54:03 so that he is able to produce his fruit in your life? My friends, these are questions that you need to ask yourself.
54:11 Let's pray. Father, we're so thankful that we have a
54:17 message to share this morning. Thank you, Lord, for the finished work of your son, Jesus Christ, who came, lived
54:25 amongst sinners, but yet did not sin, going to the cross, dying for us. an
54:31 event that happened so long ago, but an event that is so relevant to us in 2018 August. And so I pray Lord that if
54:38 anyone is in this room that is yet to be grafted into the vine, I pray that this would be a reality today. I thank you
54:46 Lord for the spirit that of your spirit that is working in the lives of your people this morning. I pray that as we
54:53 continue to live our lives right here in Sububang that your pruning knife may come to our lives in different ways, in
54:59 different forms, but we will be able to say, "Thank you, Lord, that you are
55:05 working on my life to bear much fruit. Thank you for this gathering here this morning. Thank you for the the freedom
55:11 to worship you in this part of the world. And we ask, Lord, that our lives would be a reflection of your glory.
55:16 That we would live our lives in honoring you and worshiping you all the days of our life. And we ask these things
55:21 through your son's name. Amen.
